BOC: Imported chicken meat safe

The Bureau of Customs has assured that imported chicken products shipped to Cebu obtained necessary clearances from their countries of origin amid concerns they might be infected with the bird flu virus.

BOC-Cebu cash division chief Conrado Abarintos said Cebu receives shipments of imported chicken products from the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other European countries.

In December last year alone, meat importers brought in 64 container vans or 1.6 million kilos of chicken meat to Cebu.

But Abarintos said importation of chicken meat should not be a cause of alarm among Cebuanos, especially since these were frozen chicken meat and not live chickens.

He said these importations got clearances from their countries of origin and the Bureau of Animal Industry signified they were safe for human consumption.

“The European countries istrikto kaayo na ilang quarantine,” Abarintos said, adding that Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol himself has not recommended the banning of chicken meat importation.

REGION CLEAR

The Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas, for its part, downplayed fears the bird flu virus would reach the region, saying the affected area in Pampanga has been identified and already under quarantine.

But DA-7 Director Salvador Diputado said this should not be a reason for local authorities and poultry operators to lower their guards on the virus.

Saying vigilance is always the key, he urged poultry farm owners to report to their respective health and veterinary offices if they notice unusual deaths of their chickens, ducks, and fowls.

“Sa pagkakaron diri sa Central Visayas, wala pa tay dapat ikabalaka. Atong unang buhaton gyud, kitang tanan, kung duna tay makit-an nga very unusual sa kamatayon sa atong mga manok, itik o kaha kanang mga pugo, ato dayon i-report aron imbestigahon na siya kay kung dunay unusual nga kamatayon basin kun usa na na siya sa kaso sa bird flu,” Diputado said.

Diputado clarified though that commercial poultry farms in Luzon do not ship poultry products to Central Visayas.

“Negative (supply of poultry products from Luzon to Central Visayas). Our supply broilers are Visayas and Mindanao only,” he said.

Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, he said entry points in Central Visayas have maintained strict surveillance and monitoring to ensure that the Avian Influenza virus acquired by birds or chickens will be prevented from spreading.

DA-7 suspects that the bird flu virus in Pampanga may have come from migratory birds, but this has yet to be proven.

“Duna man na daghan migratory birds sa Olango (in Lapu-Lapu City). Ato pud na obserbahan kun mao ba gyud na ang hinungdan,” he said.

Based on DA-7's regular monitoring, no case involving the migratory birds has been reported so far.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said he already instructed the Provincial Health Office to inform the hospitals and health offices of towns and cities to be aware of the reported bird flu, saying he won't take the issue lightly.

PHO chief Rene Catan earlier said Cebu is still safe from bird flu and poultry farms in the towns and cities are being monitored.

SHIPMENTS BANNED

Secretary Piñol, meanwhile, has expressed banning the shipment of fowls from Luzon to other parts of the country.

This after the DA confirmed that the cause of the death of 37,000 fowls, mostly chickens, in San Luis, Pampanga was the bird flu virus.

However, transshipment through the Manila International Airport of chicks, hatching eggs, and other fowls from other countries coming into Luzon or other parts of the country will still be allowed, provided stringent quarantine protocols must be observed.

Those who continue sending poultry products from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao will face administrative liabilities.

“Mao nang di na pwede i-circulate kay dakpon gyud na siya. Kay violation man na siya og dunay katungod ang atong mga taga-quarantinas nga moimpound sa mga produkto. Kay bawal man ang pagtransport o pagpagawas sa mao nga areas,” he said.

DA has yet to receive a communication from the Department of Health but if the latter wants to coordinate with the former, Diputado said DA is willing to cooperate.

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a viral infection spread from bird to bird.

A particularly deadly strain of bird flu is H5N1, which is a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus. It's deadly to most birds and to humans and other mammals that catch the virus from birds.

Although there are several types of bird flu, H5N1 was the first avian influenza virus to infect humans. The first infection occurred in Hong Kong in 1997 and has already killed 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.

The outbreak was linked to handling infected poultry. H5N1 occurs naturally in wild waterfowl, but it can spread easily to domestic poultry.